Queen Elizabeth

Lately, the British Royal family has been nothing short of a non-stop fairytale. On Monday, Kate Middleton gave birth to a new prince (the public is still eager to learn the new royal baby’s name). And next month, American actress Meghan Markle will wed Prince Harry. Last night, Meghan left her career as an actress behind with a touching wedding on her TV show Suits. She’ll soon be swept away in the everyday pageant of royal life — but she’ll never officially bear the coveted title “Princess.” The business of British royal titles is pretty complicated, and related closely to bloodlines.

Lance Armstrong might have some suggestions for Queen Elizabeth, whose prize-winning racehorse has tested positive for the banned substance of morphine. See what Buckingham Palace representatives said about the incident…

For Americans the British Royal Family is fun. We get caught up in the romance of it. We don’t have people with official titles straight from fairytales like “King” or “Princess” or “Duke” around here, and we’re not always sure what exactly they do, or how they make the money that keeps them uber rich and luxuriating in a lavish royal lifestyle. They never seem to have real jobs, and making impeccable and gracious public appearances seems to be the only thing they do. People make jokes about them being a drain on the British taxpayers, but are they really?

Just how rich is the Royal Family? Where their money comes from? What do they actually do?